The Seattle branch of the Black Panther Party was one of the first chapters to be established outside of the original headquarters of California. Aaron Dixon, the founder of this branch, recounts his time as a panther in the book My People Are Rising. In this book, Dixon describes his experiences as having been a constant emotional roller coaster. One day everything would go according to plan, and the next the party would be under heavy attack. the Seattle Black Panther Party branch was one of the strongest, most well organized chapters within the party, and at one point in its existence, it was also one of the most dangerous chapters of the party, supporting Hoover’s statement of the Black Panthers being “the number one internal threat to the security of the United States.” However, the Seattle chapter was also the leader in the creation of many community programs that benefitted the people, contradicting the internal threat accusations. The cause of the Party and the ideals and values that it stood for could have also influenced the reason why the government and the FBI …show more content…
The chapter began using violence in order to increase their dominance when needed. However, Dixon says that opposite to what many believe or associate with the BPP, “The party did not openly advocate attacks on police. We were supposed to be organizing the masses, helping them to prepare for self-defense and eventually guerilla warfare, if it came to that”(125). In 1968, the Seattle BPP chapter really took off. “That summer, Time and Newsweek published charts of the ten cities with the highest rates of firebombing and snipping. We were proud that Seattle had ranked number one in firebombing and number two in sniping…The Panthers had put Seattle on the
So by keeping in view the basic purpose of developing BPP, I want to say that I am agreed with the approach of the BPP. The reason is that police brutality was very common issue for African-American during the era of 1960s. In this era of 1960s, African-Americans living in north cities of United States were facing the problems of economical and social inequalities. These social and economic inequalities give rise to high level of poverty, high rates of unemployment, poor health facilities, lack of proper facilities of education, increased rate of police brutality, and increased rate of violence related to racism for African-Americans. So that is why the approach of the Black Panther Party was to solve these solutions and protect the social and economic rights of the African-Americans.
Black Panther Party For Defense Bobby Seale and Huey Newton created the “Black Panther Party For Defense” in Oakland, California in October 1966. They were a progressive political organization formed to fight for minorities and to establish socialism and community based programs for African-Americans and all racial or gender minorities. The Black Panther Party was the first organization in America to fight for ethnic minorities and working class emancipation and was a huge reason why America is as equal as we are today (Baggins).
Williams and the vanguard of a growing self-defense movement” (Hill 221) Speaking about the Workers World Party’s view of the Deacons of Defense, Lance Hill takes note of their reverence not only for the Deacons of Defense but, more importantly, for Robert Williams and the influence that he clearly
Some in the government felt threatened by the BPP. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was especially concerned about groups like the Panthers because of their aggressiveness and potential for violence. He introduced the then-secret COINTELPRO to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of black nationalist, hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence or civil disorder.” COINTELPRO activities included wiretaps, raids, anonymous letters, media infiltration, even murder. The main target was the BPP.
However, I say that rather than being a spot of intimidation; it is a way to protect the community from the height of police brutality. Specifically in areas such as San Francisco and Oakland; Huey would take the situation into his own hands. Given the recent untimely death of an unarmed teenager Matthew Johnson. To keep Huey’s community safe he decided to set up people who could protect their community from the people who were showing not to protect the community but actively fight against
The Black Panthers were an African American party that was willing to violently defend and speak up for
Huey Newton’s Black Panther Party and the Black Lives Matter movement share similar goals, but are different in ways they set out to achieve those goals. The Black Panthers party's presence got so threatened that the FBI labeled the group ‘Public Enemy Number One,’ while in today’s Black Lives Matter movement are labeled as a terrorist group although there are little to no similarities or validity to the claim. While sharing similarities between the two groups, both were different in their movement’s goals, beliefs, and actions that they took. Huey Newton and Bobby Seale created the Black Panthers party in Oakland while Newton was just 24 years (Haiphong). The Black Panthers major goals were to demand the racial equality for the civil rights groups in their education, employment, an end to police brutality,and improved housing (Weise).
The party was first formed to protect the black community from police violence. The Black Panther Party Platform, Program, and Rules was written to inform the
On May 2, 1967, Huey P. Newton, the minister of defense of the Black Panthers, said that “the time has come for black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late” (Document F). The group had changed to a violent point of view after they saw nothing was happening when they were
In watching the documentary of the Black Panther Party (movement) and how they were form to better the communities around them. The Government officials, FBI in particular infuriated to destroy them in light to keep power among the weaker individuals of society. The individuals happen to be of color (Blacks, Latinos, and Asians). I did however admire how the documentary portrayed black culture at that time. Despite the things that were occurring between law enforcement and the Black Panther party, blackness was promoted and people were proud to be black.
In contrary to peaceful protest and marches led by Martin Luther King there were other leaders who had more radical approaches to protest. Amongst these radical leaders are Malcolm X, Robert Williams, and the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers, a group created by in 1966, by Huey P Newton and Bobby Seale protected black communities patrolling areas with loaded firearms, monitoring police activities involving blacks. Since they were known for carrying loaded firearms FBI Director J Edgar Hoover considered the Black Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States” (To Determine the Destiny of Our Black Community). The Black Panthers created the Ten-Point Program.
Methods of the BPP as healthcare activists were explored. “The Black Panthers’ Education Revolution.” was written by Hannah Bahls and Dewi Zarni from The Berkeley Revolution (2017), and explained methods the BPP used to provide education to Black communities.
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party as a civil rights revolutionary party in Oakland, California in 1966. Since the time of slavery until the 1960’s and even today, Black people’s rights have been ignored from the government and white individuals in power. In the media, the Black Panther Party was described as a group of dangerous militants determined to threaten the lives of white people. On the contrary, the Black Panther Party was infuriated by the government’s neglect of the black community, so the Party was determined to protect and preserve black communities because the government refused to. To do so, Newton and Seale were not afraid to utilize their Second Amendment rights to protect themselves and their community.
Malcolm X once said “Early in life [he] had learned that if you want something, you had better make some noise.” The Black Panther Party lived by this quote. The party rose from the foundations of Malcolm X. The party was much different from other civil rights movements. They went by direct confrontation.
The Black Panther Party was created by a group of aspiring college students in Oakland California circa 1969. Made with the intent of protesting racism and police brutality, the group arranged armed citizen marches, monitored the police, and provided basic necessities to the poorer, black communities. The group displayed both the beauty and the horror of fighting for equal rights in their violent protests and amazing artwork. Deanna- The party drew a lot of its principles from Malcolm X; Bobby Seale especially was very influenced by him.